Manila bares film fest entries

Manila Mayor Lito Atienza and Festival director Tikoy Aguiluz have announced the official entries to this year’s Cinemanila International Film Festival which is set to open on Oct. 12.

"We are proud of this year’s line up of films, whether international or local digital entry," Atienza said. "They all reflect the different aspects of life as seen by the different talented film directors, actors and actresses."

The eight local digital films are: Ala Verde Ala Pobre of Muchos Bravos Filmmakers; And Daang Patungong Kalimugtong of Sampay Bakod Productions; Cut of Pelipula Productions; Dilim of Creative Program Inc.; Ilusyon of Viva Productions; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John of Teamwork Productions; Trabaho of Dirty Kitchen Productions; and Tuli of Viva Productions.

The international films in competition are: Clean by Olivier Assayas from France; The President’s Last Bang by Sang-soo Im of Korea; The Kiss by Hilde Van Meighem of Belgium; The Child by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne of Belgium; My Nikifor by Krzysztof Krauze of Poland; Frozen Land by Aku Louhimies of Finland; Palermo Hollywood by Eduardo Pinto of Argentina; Beautiful Country by Hans Peter Moland of Norway; Moolaade by Ousmane Sembene of Senegal; In Casablanca Angels Don’t Fly by Mohamed Asli of Morocco; Rainmaker by Ravi Bharwani of Indonesia and the country’s own Panaghoy sa Suba by Cesar Montano.

"We are very excited with the local component of the festival," Atienza said, "Films are all in digital format. This is the first time we are doing this and we hope it will open our eyes and hearts to this new kind of filmmaking."

The festival will officially run from Oct. 12 to 25 at SM City Manila, SM San Lazaro, Robinson’s Manila and Cinerama 2000 theaters.

The festival will also have a different awards night this year, which will take place on Oct. 19 at the Aliw Theater, since it will contain both local and international components.

Expected to grace this year’s awards night are renowned US producer and director Roger Corman with his wife Julie Corman and Pusan International Film Festival director Kim Dong Ho.Adhering to the mayor’s aim, this year’s celebration of Cinemanila will have the theme, "Buhayin ang Pelikulang Pilipino."

According to festival director Aguiluz, what sets the 7th Cinemanila from the previous ones is that this year’s celebration will have a stronger local counterpart.

The festival still follows its objectives of promoting Filipino films to world cinema audiences and world cinema to Filipino audiences and of developing new and independent filmmakers.

The grand prize winner in the Digital Film Competition will receive P1.5 million while the second prize winner will be awarded P1 million. The third prize winner will bring home P750,000.